If you thought last week's Fed announcement was surprisingly dovish/friendly/concerned, you weren't alone. Compared to the "steady-as-she-goes" December announcement, January's marked an abrupt shift. Whereas the Fed was hiking several more times, they were suddenly done hiking (maybe). Whereas they had been talking about being nowhere close to reopening the floodgates of bond holding reinvestments, suddenly , they're promising big news on that topic at the next meeting. Stocks and bonds obviously enjoyed the incredibly market-friendly Fed (lower rates and more bond buying!), but the justification offered–global growth concerns and uncertainty surrounding fiscal developments–didn't quite add up. Two days later, a slew of economic data suggested the Fed was taking…(read more)